THE WOODEN SWORDS CHAPTER 1 - HOW I LOST A BATTLE

I was dead!

My shield had been weaker than I had thought and now I was dead! The Black Knight had penetrated my shield all the way to my heart. I had fallen to the ground and the wet ground was slowly soaking its way through my armour, plus I could taste mud in my mouth. I tried to spit it out, as well as some of the small leaves, but I couldn’t!

I should stay still! After all, I was dead!

But the battle was not over. I could still hear the sounds of determined fighting; my eyes were closed, but a leader can sense how a battle is going, even if he is dead. A loud sound crashed on my left! Or was it on my right? I was never sure; I always confuse my right and left.

I opened my left…anyway…one of my eyes a little. Sir Ralph the Knight, my second-in-command, was on the ground beside me, with his sword still in his hand and his eyes shut. Dead! This was going to be a very bad day for my noble knights.

Where was Adam? He is one of my best fighters. He is a real expert with weapons. I could hear his voice, screaming:

- Back off all of you evil knights of the night! Back off! Nobody touches me! Beggars!

Adam loves this word ‘beggars’ and it is the worst thing he can say when he wants to insult anybody. My good Adam, I was dead, but I was a proud dead knight. My brave men were still fighting.

- Don’t move! I will be closer to you in a minute! Are you dead or just wounded!

I would love to have been ‘just wounded’ but I knew very well that I was dead. Stupid shield, I knew it from the very moment I chose it that it would not protect me. When we are getting ready for a battle, nobody listens to my words – I’m only the leader. The only thing they want to do is show off their new swords and start fighting.

- Oh!

That came from the other side; I mean the other side to where Sir Ralph had fallen. I was still not certain if it was left or right. I turned my head and opened my eyes a tiny bit to see what was going on. James and Adam were arguing.

- James! You’re supposed to be dead! I got you with my sword.

- You can’t kill James the sheriff. I am the police and you can’t kill the police.

- Hey! We are knights, not cowboys, and there are no police. I killed you!

- No you didn’t. I am invincible as a sheriff, just like in the cowboy films.

I stood up and decided to sort out the argument because I am the leader.

- James, you are dead. Sheriffs are not invincible and we don’t have sheriffs when we are playing knights.

- That’s not true!

- I am the leader and I make the rules.

- Then you should shut up because you are dead.

I picked up my sword from the muddy ground because I feared somebody would step on it and break it. James was confused by my sudden action and swung his sword at me as though we were starting a fight. Before I could defend myself, his sword hit my nose.

- Your nose is bleeding. Your nose is bleeding!

Adam grabbed James and everybody crowded around us.

- What are you doing, James?

- He started it!

- I didn’t start anything!

James was nearly crying and Ralph was thumping his chest showing us that his shield was no good. Anne was trying to touch my nose, she was the nurse after all, and Adam was arguing with James over what had happened. I was pressing my nose as the school nurse had shown me once after I had run into a wall in the schoolyard. I didn’t like everybody looking at my nose but we have to show our wounds after a big battle.

- Hey! I’ve got to go! We have lasagne and chips for dinner and I don’t want to be late!

He didn’t say anything else. He just threw down the piece of wood he had been holding as a sword all this time and left without saying another word. I don’t think that Ralph was ever late for dinner.

- It was your fault, Alex!

I was not going to give up so easily. I had lost a battle, I had been killed, Ralph had left and my nose was bleeding. I hadn’t done all that for nothing. I demanded an immediate rematch with James.

- I think I’d better go home, Alex. My dad told me to go out only for an hour and I’ve been here…I don’t know how long, plus I haven’t finished my homework.

- James! Come home! Dinner is ready!

That was James’ mother! James lives in the corner house and he has a huge front garden and his parents don’t mind all the kids playing there, which is why we always hold our battles there. James is a member of the knights, but we pretend that we have war between us when we practice. We do have real enemies but we have never met them on the battlefield yet.

- Sorry, Alex! I didn’t mean to hit you with my sword.

As James ran inside his house to eat, I looked around at my fellow knights. Perry and George were still fighting on the battlefield and they would continue fighting to the death. Adam was practicing his sword kills and Perry’s sister Anne and Timmy were stood watching him.

I smiled knowing that am the leader of the KING’S ROAD KNIGHTS!